KUALA LUMPUR: The Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) should be enhanced to empower it to enforce and prosecute cases involving misconducts of enforcement officers.

DAP parliamentarian Charles Santiago said although EAIC was allowed to investigate and produce recommendations on cases such as death in custody, it was not empowered to prosecute the perpetrators based on its findings.

"The EAIC has got no prosecution power. It can make all the recommendations in the world but do not have the enforcement power," he said, adding that he would debate in Parliament for the EAIC Act to be amended so that it would be given such powers to take cases to court.

Speaking at the Parliament lobby, Charles also urged the government to appoint a public prosecutor to assist EAIC with its probe on the death of S. Balamurugan, who recently died while under police custody.

He said although the police had also initiated investigations, the transparency of the probe is questionable as it lacked accountability.

"The police investigation is an internal process and unaccountable, nobody will know the conclusion of the process," he added.

He hoped the Home Minister will appoint a public prosecutor so that a transparent and independent investigation can be done and the perpetrators brought to court.

Charles said despite the government revealing that there were more than 1,600 deaths in police custody recorded since 2010, none of the perpetrators were brought to justice.

Resources: The Sundaily